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Boris Johnson's No-Show At Luxembourg Press Conference Spawns A Meme For The Ages

Social media has a field day after Xavier Bettel gives PM the 'empty chair'.

Was it a stitch-up, a gaffe or an outmanoeuvre? Whatever the reality, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to scrap a planned speech alongside his counterpart in Luxembourg has lit up social media.

The PM ducked an outdoors press conference with Xavier Bettel because of fears he would be drowned out by the heckles of pro-EU demonstrators.

Instead his lectern was left empty - the ‘empty chair’ - and Bettel gestured hammily to the podium that had been slated for Johnson.

Downing Street later described Luxembourg’s refusal to move the event inside and away from booing pro-EU protesters as “extraordinary”.

However, coming a day after Johnson claimed the UK could break out of the European Union’s “manacles” like The Incredible Hulk if a deal cannot be struck by the end of next month, it was impossible to resist for some ...

... including for Guy Verhofstadt, the chief Brexit representative for the European Parliament.

Before long, Twitter dusted off its Photoshop.

And the caption competition began.

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